


Maiden Flight

by RandomFlyer



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang's found a new friend, Airbender Zuko (Avatar), Airbending Zuko, Gen, How to test for airbending, Sokka's hunting skills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:55:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27239896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomFlyer/pseuds/RandomFlyer
Summary: Inspired by Paw-07's Dust, something of a continuation of sorts.Aang's found a new friend. He just needs to prove it.
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 220





	Maiden Flight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PAW_07](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PAW_07/gifts).



Aang tried not to react as Katara sent another covert look in his direction. The camp was quiet, even though all three of them were sitting around the fire. The last couple of nights they had been the same. Katara put on a deliberately cheerful attitude when she was talking and Sokka had held back on the sarcastic commentary, but they most kept quiet and close by, stealing those side glances at Aang as he frowned at the fire.

It was Aang’s fault that the hesitant silence had descended on their small group, he knew it, but he couldn’t bring himself to liven up the mood. There was something bothering him, had been for days, and he wanted the quiet to think it over. Katara thought at first it was about the Southern Air Temple again, but it wasn’t that, not entirely.

“Sokka,” Aang said, slow and thoughtful. Both siblings’ gazes turned to him, “You’re a hunter, right?”

“Why yes. Thank you for noticing,” Sokka said with a grin, after a beat of silence. “Are you finally coming around to the glories of meat and the manly activity of catching your own food?”

Aang winced. “Uh, no…I was just wondering if you ever hunted animals without killing them.”

“Oh sure.” Sokka settled into the pose of a man who knew his subject, arms crossed and leaning back, secure in his own expertise. “Warriors go on quests to prove their bravery all the time. It’s harder, you know, catching things and bringing them back alive. We caught a fox-wolf one time, kept it as a pet.”

“You mean _Bato_ caught a fox-wolf _cub_ ,” Katara corrected with a smirk. She turned to Aang. “And that was mostly by accident. He found it abandoned and alone, half starved, on a fishing trip so he brought it back with him and kept it.”

“I was on that fishing trip so, I helped by proxy,” Sokka shot back.

Aang jumped into the conversation before any sibling squabbles could erupt. “But you do know how to catch things without killing them, right?”

Sokka’s eyes narrowed. “Why? You already have two pets.”

“They’re not pets!” Aang said, “They’re friends! And I’m not looking to get another animal friend, I just…” he trailed off at a loss how to explain.

“Not another animal friend…” Sokka repeated, eyes narrowing further. “Hunting for food without killing the animal makes it pretty pointless…You’re hunting that jerk, prince pony tail, aren’t you?”

“Don’t be silly, Sokka.” Katara glanced between her brother and Aang. “Zuko’s a master swordsman, even with our bending he’s gotten close. Aang would never try something so reckless, would you?”

Aang winced. “Catch isn’t the right word…”

“So we’re going to what? Temporarily delay?” Sokka asked, voice cracking. “That guy is motivated enough without us antagonizing him any more than we already have!”

“I think I have to agree with Sokka on this, Aang.” Katara grimaced.

“I just need to check on something,” Aang insisted, “I have to get him up on Appa for a few minutes and then I’ll know. Just trust me on this, please?” Aang looked at them with big pleading eyes.

Sokka and Katara looked at each other.

“It’s a bad idea,” Katara said, eyes narrowing.

“It’s an interesting challenge,” Sokka countered with a shrug, “from a hunting perspective.”

“You can’t seriously be considering this.” Katara threw her hands up in the air.

“He’s going to be chasing us anyway,” Sokka said, grin growing wider. “Besides, I’m curious what Aang is trying to prove.” They both looked at Aang.

Aang fiddled with his staff. “I don’t want to say just yet. Not without checking this thing first.”

The siblings exchanged another glance.

“It’ll be risky, letting him get that close,” Katara said in one last appeal.

“He’s been close before and we’ve always gotten away. Besides,” Sokka grinned pointing at Aang and himself, “we’ll have the avatar and an expert hunter on our side.”

“Ugh, fine,” Katara threw up her hands, “But it better be a good plan.”

Sokka grinned, rubbing his hands together. “It’s gonna be the best plan.”

* * *

Zuko entered the campsite with swords drawn. From the warmth radiating off the heap of ashes left of the campfire, the Avatar and his companions couldn’t have left long ago. If he found a spot clear and high enough, he might still be able to catch sight of the Bison and get a direction.

Casting around, Zuko spotted a tall tree not a stone’s throw from the camp. It was a perfect vantage point. If he paused a moment to think he’d realize it was lucky and Zuko was never lucky. The offhand comment in town while Zuko’s ship resupplied, the lady shop keeper distracting Uncle long enough that Zuko could slip away, the obvious trail to the camp, the convenient tree, it was all too lucky. Zuko was too desperate to stop and think about all of that, though. He was too close to stop now.

Zuko was looking up at the best way to pull himself into the tree. He didn’t see the rope. Though to be fair, it was hidden under leaves just at the base of the tree where someone would climb into its branches. He stepped, reached to pull himself into the tree and a rope pulled tight around his ankle, yanking him off his feet.

Zuko crashed to the ground and a blanket flew at him from the ground. It wrapped around Zuko in a shower of dirt and leaves and a gust of wind. It fowled Zuko’s arms and pinned his swords against him.

“Gotcha!” the Avatar crowed. Then there was rope wrapped around Zuko’s arms and chest outside of the blanket.

“You!” Zuko spat, thrashing against the fabric and rope. He pushed one of his swords up through the fabric.

“Hurry up!” the annoying, non-bender peasant called from above Zuko’s head. “We don’t have much time before he cuts himself free!”

Two pairs of hands grabbed him and hoisted him up. A gust of air from below pushed against him and for a moment Zuko was air born before he landed on a firm surface. “Let me go!”

“Fair is fair! You try to catch us, we try to catch you!” the annoying one jibed, kicking Zuko in the leg.

Zuko got his sword pulled down to the rope, tearing the fabric as he went.

“Yip yip!” The Avatar called and the bison grunted, taking off into the air.

The ground tilted and Zuko slid back with a curse as he realized he was on the bison’s saddle. These children were _kidnapping_ him. He thrashed against the ropes with renewed effort and they budged giving way just a little.

“Aang! He’s getting loose!” the water bender called. A ring of ice wrapped around Zuko, slowing his efforts for a moment, but it also gave him something to cut the rope against.

“Almost ready!” the Avatar called back.

For a moment, it was just Zuko’s cursing as he fought against the restraints. Then the Avatar called out again.

“Alight, ready!” the Avatar called just as Zuko cut the rope and shattered the ice.

Dodging another lash of water, Zuko rolled to the far side of the saddle. He came back up to his feet and faced off against the Avatar and the two siblings, swords at ready.

“Sorry, Zuko, but this is for your own good,” the Avatar said, before he brought his hands around and a gust of wind pushed Zuko off the saddle.

Zuko plummeted. A spike of terror jolted through him as he realized just how high he was above the water of the harbor not far from the docked ships. Shock quickly followed. The twelve year old _pacifist_ just pushed him quite probably to his death. Then, in the blank place left by shock, terror, and the thrill of adrenaline, his arms moved on their own. He twisted around till his feet were pointed down and his arms swung in wide circles, the flats of his blades pushing against the wind, bending a cushion of air beneath him. He slowed and by the time Zuko reached the water, he dropped into it as gently as if he lowered himself in a bath.

The bison continued on overhead. Zuko could just make out the three children watching him from the saddle. They saw, they must have. There was no way they hadn’t seen him airbend. It was going to make dealing with them that much more irritating, or worse, it might give them _ideas._ What if they told someone?

Zuko growled. Sheathing his swords, he turned toward shore and swam back to dry land.

* * *

“What?!” Sokka gasped.

Of all the things he expected from Aang, pushing a guy off of Appa when they were this high up was not one of them. On the one hand, it solved their pesky prince problem, on the other? Harsh. Very harsh.

All three of them dove for the edge of the saddle and watched as the angry ponytail dropped through the air. Sokka almost considered telling the others not to watch. They were too young to see someone die like this, but then Zuko wind-milled his arms. He slowed and slowed some more until he just lowered himself in the water. His head didn’t even dip below the waves.

“No way,” Sokka gaped.

“Did he just airbend?” Katara gasped.

“I knew it,” Aang muttered.

Sokka and Katara turned to Aang as one. “You knew?” Katara asked.

Aang looked from one to the other then back toward where Zuko was now swimming toward shore. “I could tell he probably was an airbender. It was the way he walked, the way the currents acted around him, how he moved, little things.”

“So your plan was to just get him somewhere high and push him off?” Sokka gaped. “The chances of him being trained…”

“Sometimes if people get their bending late they can get scared. They hesitate about jumping and they have a hard time trusting the air will hold them. Sometimes if it was really bad, at the temple, the monks and nuns would deal with it the same way the birds do,” Aang shrugged. “Sometimes a person just needs a good shove.”

“Peaceful Air Nomads, pushing people off cliffs.” Sokka shook his head. “That’s cold.”

Aang cocked his head with a frown. “The air bison did it, too. They always had a person there for safety, someone to catch them if they didn’t bend in time. I could have dove after him if it looked like he wasn’t going to save himself. But he did! And now we know he’s an airbender.” Aang brightened. “I’m not the last one anymore! Isn’t that great?”

“Except that he’s still trying to capture you and is probably going to be really mad that you pushed him off of Appa?” Sokka turned and leaned against the saddle wall crossing his arms. “Yeah, that’s great.”

“Don’t worry,” Aang waved off Sokka’s concerns as he headed to Appa’s head. “We’re going to be friends by the end of this. I just know it.”

Sokka exchanged a look with Katara and they both knew: this wasn’t going to be fun for any of them.

::The End::


End file.
